Marty robbins autobiography

Twentieth Century Drifter is the first biography of country music legend Marty Robbins, a man who, like many of his contemporaries, battled poverty, an abusive home life, an alcoholic father, served his country in the military, and found his big break almost by accident. The early story is interesting if it is all-too-familiar and elements of the Arizona-born singer’s latter years offer rich material for a biographer. Robbins was a shrewd businessman who bucked Nashville protocol and never felt more allegiance to the music industry machine than he did for himself as an artist. Painfully insecure and in need of constant attention, he nearly derailed his live performances with silliness; he was loyal to his fans, protective of his family, but unafraid to take artistic risks.

Diane Diekman, a retired U.S. Navy captain, and author of Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story, writes that it was Robbins’ own service in the Navy and his deep love of NASCAR that drew her to him as a subject, to say nothing of her love of his music. What we get, then, is a fan biography with little critical evaluation of Robbins’ work––a portrait of Marty Robbins, generally nice guy, family man, racecar driver, and writer of classics such as “El Paso”, “A White Sport Coat”, “Big Iron” and “Twentieth Century Drifter”.

But being a nice guy and a family man is not what made Robbins great––the ear he lent to the drunk Mexicans who sang on the streets outside his boyhood home, the love that he had for western (yes, a distinctly different category than country) songs, and his uncanny knack for writing ballads (story songs, as he liked to call them) and delivering vocals with a wholly believable sense of drama, are.

We don’t get to understand how he stood in relief to Johnny Cash, Faron Young, George Jones, or even Roy Orbison––with whom he may have shared the most artist common ground––which is too bad as it might have helped better i

(1925-1982)

Who Was Marty Robbins?

Marty Robbins was an iconic country and western singer. He taught himself how to play guitar while serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war's end, Robbins started performing in clubs in and near Phoenix, Arizona. He had his local radio and television programs by the end of 1940s. In 1951, Robbins signed with Columbia Records. He had his first No. 1 country song in 1956 with "Singing the Blues." In 1959, Robbins released one of his signature songs, "El Paso," for which he won a Grammy Award. Later hits include "My Woman, My Woman, My Wife" and "Among My Souvenirs."

Early Life

Country music legend Marty Robbins was born Martin David Robinson on September 26, 1925, in Glendale, Arizona. One of nine children, he grew up around music. His father was an amateur harmonica player. His grandfather, a traveling salesman and first-rate storyteller, was another important influence on Robbins. "His name was 'Texas' Bob Heckle,'" Robbins later recalled. "He had two little books of poetry he would sell. I used to sing him church songs and he would tell me stories. A lot of the songs I've written were brought about because of stories he told me. Like 'Big Iron' I wrote because he was a Texas Ranger. At least he told me he was."

As a boy, Robbins was also inspired by Western movies. He was especially taken with Gene Autry, the original "Singing Cowboy." Robbins would work out in the cotton fields before school in order to save up money to see each new Autry film. He remembered sitting in the front row of those pictures, "close enough so I could have gotten sand in the eyes from the horses and powder burns from the guns. I wanted to be the cowboy singer, simply because Autry was my favorite singer. No one else inspired me."

Robbins's parents divorced when he was 12 years old. He and his eight siblings moved with their mothe